


For Ferelden

by Artemis1000



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Character Study, Dragon Age: Origins Quest - The Battle of Denerim, Gen, Missing Scene, Queen Anora - Freeform, Triple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-11-13 23:31:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18041180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis1000/pseuds/Artemis1000
Summary: The armor weighs heavily on Anora’s slim shoulders. She wears it with pride, and if she dare say so, she wears it well and better with every day.





	For Ferelden

**Author's Note:**

  * For [owlmoose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlmoose/gifts).



_For Ferelden!_

It’s the battle cry bellowed by a thousand voices as the troops march for Denerim.

The armor weighs heavily on Anora’s slim shoulders. She wears it with pride, and if she dare say so, she wears it well and better with every day.

 _For Ferelden_ , they say and sometimes it sounds like a prayer to Anora’s ears, sometimes like a plea. In her own heart, it becomes both.

 _For King Cailan_ , she says, _for the Wardens_ , she says, and blinks away a sudden sting the first time she hears _for our Queen_.

Warfare used to be her husband’s and father’s field while she waged war with ink and parchment. Now the royal palace where she waged her battles has become just another trophy to the darkspawn.

So she keeps her shoulders squared under the weight of leather and mail, for wars must be waged wherever the battlefield may be.

“Don’t coddle me,” she says, voice curt and harsh with royal displeasure when her generals voice doubts of letting her go to all the way to the gates of war-torn Denerim. “I chose this, this is where I want to be.”

It is where she needs to be, she feels it in her bones. Whatever their origins, today they are all fighting for Ferelden, and today, Anora must be their Ferelden. Ferelden unbowed, uncowed, scarred by its losses but not broken by them. 

Then she speaks to the troops one last time before battle, and once again invokes legacies greater than her own – for she is Ferelden, and Ferelden knows not to be vain, to put yourself second and duty first.

The armor weighs heavily on her shoulders and with each life lost in her name, it will grow heavier.

Anora feels the weight but does not fear it.


End file.
